In This Broken World Of Ours
by iLen-Rin
Summary: With only each other in this post-apocalyptic world, four teenagers struggle to survive through countless hardships that test the limits of their resourcefulness while testing the bonds that they share between each other.
1. Start of the End

**So instead of updating the other stories, I'm now going to write a new one. Haha... Yeah, you people are going to hate me. Also, since a lot of people liked This Is My Battlefield, I felt like doing another apocalypse type story, but more apocalypse-y. But this time, instead of scientific monsters and trained killing machines, it'll be with zombies and teenagers that shouldn't be allowed to roam around this type of environment. Why? Because I've been playing Left 4 Dead 2 a lot and I really feel like it. Okay, okay, let's get this started. **

**I don't own anything except the plot. **

* * *

My legs were tucked against my chest as our trashed vehicle drove over the cracked, wreck streets of the highway. From this point, it looked like just a normal day out. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and several birds flew above as if nothing in the world was wrong. And for them, it wasn't wrong. For any animal, nothing was really wrong either because they weren't the targets of the monstrosities that threatened human existence as we knew it. In fact, it was better that we did have an animal with us due to the fact that the zombies- yes, zombies- had no idea how to deal with them. They weren't like humans, apparently, and the virus couldn't infiltrate their systems either. I've never wanted to be a cat so much in my entire life, but I didn't plan to die here.

"Which road am I suppose to take?" Miku asked, slowing the car to a stop. She was obviously the driver since she was the only one of us with a license and the ability to drive a motor vehicle without crashing it into the nearest obstruction. Gumi was our navigator and the only one with the ability to read an actual map since the rest of us were so depended on electronics. If it wasn't completely obvious, 4G wasn't going to help us during the apocalypse ever since the First Wave when the towers were taken down.

"Depends, you want to keep enjoying the zombie-less view or do you want to go get supplies at the nearest city?" Gumi asked, resting the paper map down on her lap for a bit. "Because I could definitely go for some chips if we can find them. And maybe some more supplies for Molotov cocktails because we're running short and that's not a good thing. We'll need bandages too." Beside me was Len, the last person we rescued from the high school from the last town we ran through. We didn't all know each other during the time. I used to just be on my own.

* * *

During the time of the First Wave, I had been walking home from school when I had gotten a text to get home as quickly as humanely possible by my older sister. I really had no idea why, but since it was from my older sister, I had ran home as fast as I could. My sister would never tell me to run home because every time we were in the same room together, some sort of fight would break out. I really wish she were still alive for me to argue with. When I arrived home, my older sister pulled me inside of the house and locked the front door, blocking it with the living room couch.

"Rin, listen to me and go get Dad's pistol upstairs," my sister ordered.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked, with a frown. Her clothes were torn and dirtied with mud, probably from falling multiple times on her way back to our house. "Where's Mom and Dad? Why are you..."

"They're DEAD, now GO RIN," she screamed. "GO NOW!" I've never seen her look so scared in my life. An actress my sister was not, so without another word, I ran upstairs with nothing but questions filling my head. Running down the hallway, I opened my parent's bedroom door and pushed, but something was definitely blocking the way. Whatever it was, it was extremely heavy.

"What...?" I murmured. "C'mon..." I hit the door with my shoulder and tried to push it. It budge only a bit, so I backed up. Never had I thought I would need to tackle down my parent's door to get Dad's gun. "Okay. Okay, I can totally do this." I pushed off against the opposite wall and threw my body against the door, finally getting it to open to a point where I could get in.

God, I wish I didn't.

The windows were broken as the sunlight lit up the entire room, but it did nothing to mask the smell of freshly murdered bodies and metallic blood that filled the area. On the bed was my mother, or at least, I believe it was my mother. Her face was too bloody, too messed up for me to tell. On the floor, my father's body was pushed off to the side with the pistol in his hand. It didn't take a genius to realize that he was the one who was blocking the door way. My heart started to force its own sound to echo through my ears.

"D-Dad?!"

"...Rin..." Slowly, his hand pushed the pistol to my feet with the last pieces of strength he had. "...Take it...go... Rin, you have to.. run away..." I could hear footsteps clambering up the stairs as my older sister appeared behind me. She quickly swiped up the pistol and grabbed me by the back of my school shirt, yanking me back into the hallway.

"Don't go in there!" she snapped. "It's dangerous!"

"What happened here?! Why is..."

"Rin, I can't explain it, I really cant," my sister blubbered. "J-just! Go downstairs and put all the food you can in your bag! Grab the butcher knife Mom has. Don't question me, just GO!" I was shaking by now as my back was to the wall. "Rin, please! GO!" I opened my mouth to speak, but she grabbed at me again and pushed me down the hall. I was frozen there for a moment, but finally I got my shaking legs to move. I had no idea what was going on and it looked as if my Dad had murdered my mother and somehow had gotten hurt. I knew Mom was sick, but for him to kill her... Needless to say, I followed my older sister's orders and tried to cram cans of food in the pantry into my bag. I don't think I could explain the absolute horror that shot through my veins when I heard the sound of a bullet from upstairs.

"S-s...Sis?" I called, shaking as I carefully inched towards the stairs. Slowly, my sister descended down the stairs with a hand gripping at her face. "Sis...w-what happened...? What did you...?"

"Rin, Rin, don't go upstairs," she replied, in a soft, almost impossibly quiet voice. "..." She gently pushed me back to the kitchen, grabbing the butcher's knife, and pushed it into my hands. "Go get into my car." She gently pushed me to the door that lead to the garage. "Go." Her voice was so broken and my head was swamped with exhaustion of the current situation that I didn't resist her. Walking into the concrete garage, I climbed into her car and buckled up my seat belt. I heard the trunk of the van open and heard my sister load up a few things before closing it and climbing into the front seat.

"Sis...what's going on... I'm really going to have a panic attack if you don't-"

"You wouldn't believe me," she interrupted. "Just close your eyes and hold on tightly." She pressed the button on her personal remote that opened the garage door, not even waiting for it to open all the way before she stepped on the gas pedal. I shut my eyes and covered them with my hand, letting the knife rest in my lap. I gasped as I felt something hit the front of the car. "Damn... Keep your eyes closed."

"B-but wh-" Another large thing hit the front of the car and the knife slide off of my lap and onto the floor of her vehicle. My eyes opened for a second to pick it up when I saw the blood splatters on the hood. I bit my lip to suppress a scream, but my sister simply activated the windshield wipers to remove the blood that splattered in the way of her view. In front of us, deformed and pale bodies wandered around the streets and every once in a while, they would run at the vehicle, but my sister would just accelerate.

"Zombies, Rin. They're zombies." I looked towards my sister in disbelief. "Grab my bag in the back and switch your skirt into pants." Without a word, I silently switched out my bottoms with the pants she had in her bag. It was her cheerleader pants, but I guess that was the only thing she had packed. "The sickness that Mom had is some sort of weird parasite that works its way into the host's brain. It was on the news when I was in free period."

"S-so M-Mom and D-dad are..."

"Dead. Dad had to shoot Mom, she transferred it to him," she explained. Her knuckled turned white as she gripped the steering wheel. "So I... I had to... I had to shoot him." Her once manicured nails dug into the wheel. "I... I'm so sorry... Rin, I- ...Please. We're all each other has left... Please, please. Please listen to everything I say. I... I know we always fight, but I..." Her teeth gritted as she tried to avoid the stalled cars on the road. We drove in silence for a while.

* * *

It was a week when we first met Miku. It was also then when we left my sister to die. Miku had barricaded herself at a gas station store and we stopped by to grab some things since all the food that I had stored away was pretty much long gone now. She was happy to see us, but she seemed like the type who gave off some sort of optimistic front to other people. Judging on the trash that laid around, she had been stuck in this place for as long as my sister and I were on the run. So, we offered to bring her with us. I didn't doubt that she would agree since no one would want to be alone in a place like this. It was as we were leaving, a crowd of these monsters targeted us. Miku didn't have so much as a small revolver with her that she had taken from the cashier when he fled the store.

"Get to the car!" my sister ordered. "Hurry! The both of you! I'll hold them off for now!" I watched my sister for a bit as she kicked back a few of the oncoming bodies lunge at her. Miku threw herself into the car and I scrambled in after her, slamming the door shut.

"Duck!" The teal haired girl placed her hand on my head and opened window just a bit to send a bullet out, hitting one of the zombies in the back that planned to bite a chunk out of my sister. "Are you alright?!"

"Y-yeah!" My sister called back, giving a thumbs up to us. "I-I- SHIT! Miku! DRIVE! GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE!" I saw it with my own eyes as a rather larger zombie, I'm guessing one of the football members tackled my sister to the ground. Miku didn't waste anytime, dropping her revolver into the front seat as she clambered into the driver's seat and started up the car.

"Wait!" I screamed. "M-my sister!"

"It's too late for her," Miku said, shaking her head. "Just buckle up!" She floored the gas pedal as I stared out of the window in horror. "What are you doing?! Get back in, Rin!" I watched, screaming as my voice caught in my throat and tears started to blur my vision. My only family. She was the only family I had left. She... My sister... "Rin!" Miku swerved the car and the inertia threw my body back as she quickly rolled the window up and locked it from the driver's side. "Don't let your sister's sacrifice be wasted!" My hands shook as my finger pressed to the bones of my cheeks. It took so long. So long for me to even begin to recover from the trauma of losing my only family.

* * *

**Hm. Okay, so it's kind of Left 4 Dead 2 ish. Eh. I don't own it and it's a cool game. Totally recommend it, by the way. So uh. Yeah. Have a nice day. I haven't decided if there's romance in here, so you'll just have to keep reading. **

**-Rizun**

**P.S. Here's the link to the image that inspired me this time: danbooru. donmai. us /posts/1574039?tags=kagamine_rin**


	2. Collection of Idiots

**This chapter was written in advanced so that I don't forget to update/get lazy. Anyway, I would like to thank you for reading. **

**I don't own anything but the writing.**

* * *

"Could you check my phone, please?" With one hand on the wheel and the other holding her phone out to me, Miku didn't say very much more. I nodded quietly and took the phone from her, staring at it as I scrolled through the messages and current phone calls. At this point, it had been several weeks of just the both of us going from town to town with the same routine of filling up the vehicle with gas as well as the several containers that we secured in the back as well and raiding all of the stores we could for various items. Miku seemed to be as old as my sister was, so maybe a year or two older than I was. Still, that wasn't very old, considering that I was barely seventeen at the time.

"There are... various messages, but... What exactly am I checking for?"

"See if the GPS or the map system is working," she continued as we drove on the road just below the highway. Yes, there were plenty of the monsters that rammed into the vehicle, but if we were to take the highway, there was the chance that we were going to be stranded there with uninfected people who wanted to escape this place and head to somewhere where the parasite couldn't affect them. Where that place may be, neither Miku nor I knew. In honesty, we didn't even think it existed. Still, through all of this, somehow Miku was able to keep her cheerful, optimistic appearance. I knew it was mostly for me to feel better. This was a girl I only met several weeks ago, but she was making this effort to try and console me after I watched my sister die. I couldn't thank her enough for trying.

"Nope... It doesn't look like it's working," I admitted. "Your phone isn't getting any signal." I reached at my feet and dug through my dirtied backpack, pulling out my own phone and turning it on. I didn't want to waste its precious battery, so I had it off for a while now. "...and neither do I. I don't think phones are very useful to us at this point..." I turned my phone off again and dropped it into my bag before placing Miku's phone in the cup holder. Miku exhaled- or did she sigh?- and nodded her head.

"You're right," she mumbled, taking a left into a neighborhood. Just like the many we had seen before, it was abandoned minus the several pale bodies of those with the parasites in them. Miku and I had taken to calling them the Hosts as it was short, simple, and right to the point. During this time, I realized that I couldn't shoot a gun for my life. Which, in a zombie apocalypse, is completely literal. Luckily, we had found a hardware store that had slashing type weapons that I would wield with ease. All the guns, I gave to Miku since she was better off with them. I used to use a slasher, but I found that machetes cut faster and both weighed less than the axe I tried to use.

"Hey, do you hear that?" I asked, looking around.

"Huh?"

"It sounds like glass breaking and-"

"Fire!" Miku shrieked, hitting the breaks and swerving the car. "That was way too close." Looking out the side of my window, I could feel the heat of the alcohol fed fire as it burned the Hosts next to the car, cooking the bodies alive. "Who the hell threw that? We could've been roasted if I wasn't watching where we were going!" Miku opened the driver side door and head up her shotgun as she took a look around the place.

"Whoa there, you that thing down! You might shoot my head off with that thing!" I couldn't see who it was, but Miku did as the voice said. "I didn't know there were still living people around here, especially not around my age." I climbed over into the driver's seat and peered out, following Miku's gaze as we both looked at a green haired girl sitting on a blood splattered and charred, but expensive looking RV. As we would later on see, the outside would stay trashed, but the inside was nothing to laugh at.

"Who are you?" Miku asked, looking around the area before looking back at the girl.

"The name's Megumi, but you can just call me Gumi," she replied, swinging her legs from the top of the RV. I noticed that around here were prepared bottles that were to be lighted up and used as projectiles at the Hosts. "That was some nice driving you had there." She twirled a dangerous looking, metal pole in her hands and set it down before lighting up another cocktail and tossing it towards the area we drove in from. "You two look like you could use a shower. How about we travel together? You use my lovely RV," she patted the vehicle, "and you drive it cause I've been living in this thing for a while and any more crashes I get into will mean that I'll have to jack another RV from a bunch of dead people."

"She's kind of..." I mumbled.

"Just a bit, but... She looks like she knows what she's doing," Miku whispered back. And that was actually the first time I've ever gotten to ride in an expensive, Essex blah blah RV thing. At the time, though, I didn't think very much of it, but it was nice to be able to walk around without getting attacked by a Host... or a dozen. Since it seemed that we were going to be together for a while, I took Miku's backpack and my own and started to unpack everything we had into the Gumi's cabinets and hid our packs somewhere where they wouldn't be seen since they looked so out of place in such a nice interior.

"Wow, this is some high tech driving mechanism," Miku gasped. She sat at the driver's seat and Gumi reclined near her in the passenger's seat with a proud smile. "And you stole this without getting caught or anything?"

"That's right," Gumi huffed. "Stole it, loaded it, and proudly lived in it for a month or something now." I took a seat on the soft, cream colored couch as I watched the both of them speak. "So, Miku, you can definitely drive this, right? I hate staying in this neighborhood. Besides, there's nothing left in any of the houses since I foraged all of the food and alcohol- For the fire, of course."

"I can definitely try to drive it," Miku corrected, starting the RV up. The peaceful purr of the engine was relaxing compared to the constant sputtering of my sister's vehicle. The entire RV started to move and Miku nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I can definitely drive this. It's really smooth... Wow..." Gumi chuckled and spun her chair around to face me.

"Blondie, you could really use a shower," she said, using her thumb to point to the back. "Also, those bandages..."

"I wasn't bit, I promise," I replied. "It's to make sure the Hosts have a harder time to bite me and everything." Gumi frowned and shook her head.

"You know what? We'll stop by the mall and get you two some new clothes." Gumi stood up and walked in front of me, examining my appearance with a critical stare. "Yeah, the ways those bandages are wrapped and how loose those pants are... You're as good as zombie chow, blondie." She waved her hand at me. "Now go take a shower. You can use my clothes I have back there. We look more of the same size anyway." I nodded slowly before rising to my feet and headed to the back to take a well deserved shower. Although, on our way to the mall was when we found Len, holed up in his school.

"Is it me, or do you hear screaming?" Gumi asked as Miku slowed the RV down. She stood up from her seat as I was tying my bow back into my hair. She wielded her metal pole as she opened the door, bashing down a few zombies before stretching. "Oh hey, I know this place! This was my high school! Didn't come to school on the day of the First Wave cause I was skipping. Good times, good times." Miku loaded up her shotgun and followed after her. "Don't forget to lock the RV. I don't want my pretty ride getting filled with the living dead." Quickly, I grabbed my backpack from under the cabinet along with my machete and went after them.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked, staying close to the other two. It seemed weird to me that there weren't any Hosts attacking us. Us, they were there, but they weren't lunging at us. If anything, it seemed as if we were invisible to them. I was about to open my mouth to speak again when we heard the scream once more. That's when the Hosts started to animate and run towards the direction of the scream.

"C'mon!" Miku ordered. She broke into a run, clearing the path as she took down several Hosts with lead rain. It was then the Hosts started to attack at us as well. I gritted my teeth as I kicked back a Host and slash another's head clean off of its body. After a month or so of dealing with Hosts, the gross splatter of blood didn't affect me as much as it used to which, during a zombie apocalypse, is always a good thing. Quickly, we followed the scream until we saw a group of Hosts throwing themselves at a door as well as the blonde male who tried to hold it close.

"Hold on, kiddo, Dream Team's here to save you!" Gumi called out, almost immediately running into the fray. That's when both Miku and I took to note that the reckless one of this nightmare was, without a doubt, the green haired girl who proceeded to beat down every single Host until their bodies littered the floor, bludgeoned and safe. On the other hand, Miku and I prevented from any more Hosts to interrupt our "rescue" mission.

"..."

"C'mon kid, say something," Gumi urged, frowning. "We saved you, so at least thank us." Looking back at the boy, he looked just as torn as the rest of us, but he was the only smart one since he actually wore a mask. "C'mon. Really? You were screaming before hand. Ugh. Say something or we're going to leave you here."

"Gumi!" Miku snapped, lowering her gun for a second. "We can't just leave lone survivors on their own!" She walked over and the two started to argue as I kept focus on holding the Hosts back. It wasn't too bad, but the fact that they kept arguing over something so trivial as some guy speaking made me want to chop off their own heads in the process.

"Guys, can we just PLEASE continue this RIVETING conversation in the RV?" I yelled, slashing through a Host's skull. Gross.

"..."

"We're not bringing dead boy with us if he refuses to talk," Gumi pointed out. "Because he my be a Host too, y'know. He's sure got the pasty skin for it."

"Will you stop insulting him?" Miku huffed. "I'm sure he's just traumatized like a normal person! I won't drive that RV unless we bring him with us and that's final!"

"If I talk, will you all just stop yelling?" The boy sighed and adjusted his mask. "You'll attract more of the zombies and my arms are tired from playing baseball with their heads this entire time." He looked at me with a serious expression. "And you. Do you have any food? I'm starving."

That was it. That was how the four of us met. That's how our adventure together would begin and that's, hopefully, how our adventure would end. With all four of us alive and Len asking for food.

* * *

**Hey look an update.**

**-Rizun**


	3. Idiots Ramble Too

**Just a note, during weekdays, I won't be able to post as much. **

**To be honest, I'm not really sure how active this fandom is, mostly because I haven't been checking the main page to see how big the influx of stories are for this. Ah well. Also, before you ask, I'm not really sure about the romance in this. I mean, in all honesty, it'll probably end up to be another Len and Rin sort of thing, but that's probably what you would expect from Fanfiction user iLen-Rin, amirite?**

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

Now in real time, or, back to where we first met, we were on our way to the mall as previously stated. I had my arms wrapped securely around my legs as I watched my backpack and machete on the floor bounce every time we hit a bump in the road. Miku and Gumi continued on some random banter up front that I just tuned out, lost in my own world. From the machete and backpack, I lifted my gaze and looked over to Len who was literally swallowing down bag after back of junk food that Miku and I had stocked in the pantry of the RV. I almost forgot how some boys tended to eat as if the world was going to end. Then I realized, the world basically was ending and he had a pretty good reason to-

"Hey, girlie, are you just going to keep staring at me like a creeper the entire ride?" I frowned and looked away from him. Gumi spun around in her seat after Miku seemed to focus mostly on the road as she swerved passed abandoned cars, heading right for the city. "That's what I thought." I sighed and bit down on my lip. On normal circumstances, I would have bitten back at him, but that was back when some lowly parasite wasn't threatening my life and my family was alive with none of this bullshit even happening. But of course, it wasn't as if I could do anything to stop it even if I had the power to somehow go back in time. Mom was a goner from the moment we saw she had gotten sick with "pneumonia."

"Got a sharp tongue on ya, don't cha, Len?" Gumi asked, sarcastically mocking the way he spoke. "Y'know, it's not nice to talk to a lady like that. Rinny's got one hell of an arm when it comes to chopping zombie heads, so I'd be careful around her since you're pretty much a non-zombie zombie yourself!" Both Len and I just stared at her with confused looks, but Len crumpled up one of the plastic chip bags and threw it right at her. Of course, Gumi had quick reactions, hitting the plastic back at Len with her metal pole and had it smack him in the face.

"Don't throw things back there!" Miku shouted from the front. "It's distracting!"

"So, how about you tell us about yourself, Len?" I asked, trying to change the subject for the better. Len looked at me as if he were disappointed and for a second I glared at him because the only thought that appeared in my head when he gave me that look was '_Look banana haired bitch, at least I'm fucking trying.'_ He sighed- which he actually did quite a lot, now that I remember- and pulled his mask back onto his face before he spoke.

"That depends on what you want to know, girlie," he replied, crossing his arms. "You already know the basics. Len Kagamine, used to go to Crypton High, was stranded in Crypton High, had to use my favorite metal bat to knock zombies into last week- You call them Hosts don't you? That's weird, but it's pretty short, so I'll call them Hosts too." He pulled out a metal bat from his backpack and displayed it for both me and Gumi to observe.

"Am I the only one who can use a gun? That's not a good thing, you know," Miku complained from the driver's seat.

"I can use a gun," Len commented. "I just don't have one. My hunting rifle was at home and I couldn't leave the school to get it. Do you have any extras around here?"

"Hey! Hey! I can use a gun, you just never see me use them because I like getting up and personal with zombies when I whack 'em with my pole of glory," Gumi huffed. "Besides, I'm good at aiming. You've seen me with the molotovs. I'm basically a pro Host hunter by now!" Len scoffed, standing up as he tried to search the RV for any guns. "Geez piggy, I'll get you a gun, just sit back down before your gross clothes mess up my nice RV!"

"Didn't you steal this RV?"

"Either way, it's mine so don't mess it up!"

* * *

After what seemed to be a long, nonstop talking drive to the mall, we found that the mall was, in fact, over run by hosts as I thought. Well, pretty much everyone thought, considering it isn't hard at all to break the glass doors that lead into the mall. The only think I was worried about was the fact we were suppose to find specific types of clothes at the same time trying to ward off the hosts from eating us. God forbid I have to kick a host in skinny jeans. Ugh. I detested skinny jeans. I mean, they look great on other people, but I hated the way they felt.

"We need to find a good parking spot." Gumi looked out the window and shook her head.

"Nah man, just fucking ram us into the entrance. I bet the RV could fit."

"You're an idiot, aren't you?" Len interrupted.

"'Xcuse you?"

"You heard me. You're a fucking idiot, aren't you?" he repeated. "If we bash into the building like that, how do you expect us to back out if we find out that we can't? Besides, this RV's gonna be left on its own if we all go."

"Then I'll just have to make a huge fucking hole, huh?" Gumi mused. "Let's seeeeee. What's the best way to make a nice BIG boom- Oh that reminds me! Now that we have a boy in the party, we can finally start making mustard gas and take out hosts via chemical warfare as well."

"How the fuck is that even going to help us?" Len snorted. "Have you even researched about mustard gas before or are you just trying to sound smart by suggesting we should bomb the fucking Hosts with mustard gas and hoping that in SEVERAL HOURS, they'll die."

"Not to mention that the only scenario that were to happens is if the zombies were in direct range of said mustard gas," I spoke up. Before, I actually had done research on this topic for a World War I presentation. The information by itself was interesting enough so I just seemed to lock it up in the back of my memory for later use and all.

"Yeah, thanks for the back up, blondie," Gumi huffed, giving me a look. She looked towards Len and frowned too. "Well shit, now I'm going to have to call you something else since blondie over here is blondie already."

"Or you could just call her by her actual name instead of the color of her hair," Miku commented, maneuvering the RV into the large entrance of the mall. "Hold on to something! I'm about to ram it in!"

"Oh my g-" Len couldn't even finish his sentence as the three of us almost fell backwards due to the vibration of the RV as it went right through the entrance with a fairly loud, glass shattering noise. "WHAT THE HELL, LADY?!"

"We're here!" Miku sang, almost too proud of herself. "Thank you for riding the Miku Hatsune Metro. Please take your complimentary gun from the stoarge cabinets as you leave to do some shopping. We're always running, so enjoy yourselves on this fine day!" Gumi just snickered in approval as I rose to my feet and slid my back pack on. "One more thing: don't ever go on your own-"

"I'll do what I want." Len didn't say anything else as he loaded up an assault rifle and tried to make his way to the RV door, but I quickly grabbed his backpack and spun him around to make sure I had eye contact with him as I glared. "Oh great, what the fuck do you want?"

"I'll go with you."

"I'm not going to protect you, girlie."

"I don't need to be protected." Len sighed and I crossed my arms.

"...fine. Grab a gun and bring it with you."

"I'm not a good shot."

"Well, now you're going to have a crash course lesson."

* * *

**It's a bit short, but oh well. Anyway, yeah. I've decided Len and Rin as a couple because...well. I'm me, of course. **

**-Rizun**


	4. Nice Day For Shopping

**I really like malls for zombie apocalypses.**

**I don't own things.**

* * *

After an agreement to meet up at the RV in a hour or so, we split up and went our different ways. Miku and Gumi, of course, probably headed to one of Gumi's favorite stores and by the looks of it, Miku did not enjoy Gumi's style in clothing. Len and I decided that it was easier to go up through the floors to the one store that held a good amount of coed typed clothing. Well, mainly we were looking for pants and long sleeved clothes. I think the most annoying thing about the mall was that pretty much all the lights were on, but pretty much none of the elevators or escalators were working. I know it's better for us to get the exercise and all, being that it's an apocalypse, but c'mon.

"Wait. Stop." Len held his arm out in front of me, preventing me from moving beyond that point. I looked behind us and a trail of zombies just laid, decapitated and riddle with bullets. "...that's...a lot of them but..." He stepped back a bit and gently urged me to stand in his place and check out what he was seeing. I gasped softly as my gaze fell down upon what was basically a mosh pit of zombies and...normal...human beings? Healthy, lively looking humans were surrounded with zombies as if they were nothing but large, dead kittens as they seemed to enjoy themselves.

"What the hell...?" I murmured softly. "What's...going on over there?"

"No idea, but the elevator is that way and we need to go there." He crossed his arms for a second and I kept watching the group in the center. They looked so relaxed, yet they didn't touch the zombies. They didn't, the zombies I mean, seem to notice them either. If they wanted to walk that way, they just didn't. The sight was bizarre at least and just out right strange. "Let's flush them out."

"Eh? How?" I wasn't all too trusting of strangers unless Miku was with me. A slight pang in my heart made me realize that over time, Miku had really become my older sister. Emotionally, that is. I trusted her decisions and so far, I was still alive and hopeful. In this world, it's hard for people not to fight especially in the circumstances that may take love ones and turn them into the enemy.

"You got a mollie on you?"

"Depends. Do you have a lighter on you?" I nodded and quickly slid my backpack around, retrieving a bottle filled with alcohol. I quietly opened the cap and stuffed a piece of cloth inside, but just enough to light on fire. Len dug a lighter from his pants and nodded. "Light it, I'm good at throwing." He nodded and lit the cloth on fire before stepping back. Quickly, I threw it as hard as I could into the middle of the crowd, staggering a bit when I released it. I didn't even get to see the fire when Len grabbed my hand and pulled me into the nearest store that we had cleared earlier. He threw me into one of the changing rooms and I quickly buried myself in the pile of clothes there as well as huddled up on the little stool they had in there.

"Get your gun out," he whispered from the other room. That was the last thing I heard him say as I reached for my belt and fumbled with the glock I took from our storage of guns. I looked at it, my hands shaking a bit from the sudden running and hiding we had to do. I then pointed it, mind you I was still under the clothes outwards in case I needed to shoot it. Outside, I could hear the screeching of the Hosts as well as normal human screaming and the sound of the sprinklers tried to douse out the alcohol flames. The sound of rumbling footsteps shook the ground until they slowly started to die out. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears being replaced by footsteps. I held my breath as the footsteps came closer.

Closer.

Closer.

I pulled the clothes on my head slowly off and held the gun with both of my hands at the door. Closer. Closer. The footsteps were getting closer and a shadow filtered in the small cubical I sat in. The door swung open and my adrenaline pressed my finger down on the trigger.

"Were you going to shoot me?" Len asked, jokingly. "And here I thought we got along fine."

"You scared me," I sighed, lowering the gun and placing a hand to my heart.

"Pfft. You have the safety on anyway, idiot." He pointed down to the gun and I played with the trigger, frowning that he was right. The trigger didn't go completely back as it should have. "Thank god for your inability to wield a gun. Let's go, the path's clear and those weirdos are gone." I glared at him for a second before we left the store and headed up the stairs. On our way, I counted how many bodies I fried with the cocktail.

"Len wait," I spoke, grabbing his arm.

"Ha?"

"Look. Over there," I whispered. Hiding behind one of the giant plants was a little girl cowering. She had her tiny hands holding her head as she shook and her dress and shoes seemed to be scorched due to the fire we created. She sounded as if she were crying. "It's... a little girl, Len. We can't just leave her there... What are we going to do?" He looked over there for a second and stared at the girl before nodded.

"I agree." I didn't expect that.

"You do?"

"Yeah." He pulled out his AK and loaded it up with bullets. "I'll fix the problem."

"Len! You're not going to shoot a kid!"

"Don't get sentimental on me, girlie, for all you know, she's probably a zombie like those asshole witches in that one game," he spat, rolling his eyes. "Just stand back and don't do anything." I covered the mouth of the gun with my hand and forced it down, glaring at Len. "Girlie, if I hadn't been holding this gun tightly, I would have shot your hand off."

"You're not gonna shoot-"

"U-um...w-who are you?"We both froze in place and slowly turned our gaze to see the girl standing in front of us. She looked...alive. Alive enough, at least. She wasn't zombie-pale, but she was still pretty pale and her cheeks were streaked with tears. "D-do you know where the others are...? They... they left me here...everyone left me here... Um...I..." I looked back at Len who sighed and swung the gun back around his shoulder.

"What did they look like kid?" he asked, frowning.

"Er...uh... Why do you have a gun?" Len turned to me with a glare.

"This kid is fucking insane."

"She's a little girl, Len!"

"She could be a zombie!"

"I-I'm not a..."

"She's not a zombie!"

"She's a zombie."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I'm..."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO."

"Yes." I growled at him and hit my palm to my forehead.

"I'm...actually a-"

"Zombie."

"N...no..."

"Zombie."

"N-no! I'm not a zombie, I'm n-normal!"

"You're a normal zombie."

"I'm not a zombie! Stop it!"

"Len, seriously, stop."

"No, I _know _she's a zombie."

"How?!"

"Because I can literally see the hoard of zombies she's calling in, girlie." I turned to come face to face with a zombie and immediately covered my mouth to hold back a scream. Len pulled his gun out and pointed it past my head and at the zombie. "Get your machete, girlie."

"W-wait don't hurt them!" the little girl screamed out. She tackled at Len's legs and sent him to the floor. I watched as she seemed to throw a tantrum and hit at Len's chest with her tiny fists as she tried to 'protect' the hosts from them. Strangely enough, the hosts around us did nothing. I kind of just turned to them and stared at them and one of them looked at me and stared back before raising a hand that held another hand and waved. Stunned, I sort of just...waved...back.

"...I have a question. What is going on and who are you?" I asked, looking at the tiny girl.

* * *

**Good question. **

**-Rizun**


	5. Baby On Board

**I'm glad you're liking the story! Now, let's continue on.**

**Simple disclaimer.**

* * *

"W-well...that's... Really hard to explain I..." The little pink haired girl fumbled with her hands as she tried to come up with an explanation to why she could control these hosts. My gaze would constantly switch between her and Len as well as the zombies, my heart slowly starting to pick up its pace as adrenaline slowly leaked through my system. Why? Because Len looked like he was going to lose patience any minute. "I...I'm patient zero."

"Shouldn't you be a zom-"

"Host."

"Who cares what I call them? Shouldn't you be a zombie, girl?" Len asked, irritated at the answer. "Sounds like utter bullshit to me." My hand shot out and rested on his arm to make sure that he didn't raise his gun at her again. Although, he was right. She should have been a host just like the others if she were patient zero, so why was it that she was able to communicate and not crave like the others? At this point, even I was getting a bit suspicious. The safety on Len's gun was off if need be.

"B-because I... I just..." She fumbled with her hands. "I-I... M-my blood is..."

"Spit it out, kid, we don't have time for this," Len snapped, slowly raising his gun. "And it better be good or I'm blowing your brains out." The pink haired girl froze, looking absolutely petrified and the Hosts around us started to growl, so I immediately forced his gun back down.

"Scaring her will only make it worse, Len," I said, with a frown. I looked back at the girl, trying to give my best, big-sisterly smile. "Hey, it'll be okay. I won't let banana boy shoot you. Now, what's wrong with your blood?"

"H-half immune so... So that... I got sick but...my blood just... kills the parasite, but... it attracts zombies, but they know it won't do any good..." she stammered out her answer, clinging onto the edge of her skirt. "So many people have been trying to kill me for my blood...I... I... I got so scared... The zombies... protect me..."

"...what's your name?" Len asked, sighing as he relaxed his arm.

"A-Aria...b-but my parents used to call me Ia..."

"You can control the zombies?"

"I-I think..."

"Alright. Here, I'll make a deal with you, kid. You make sure none of you...'friends' hurt me or my friends and we'll keep you safe from the people who want your blood," Len said, with a nod. I looked at him in surprise, immediately switching my gaze to Ia who seemed to brightened. "But I'll kill you if you even think about killing us, got it?" He looked to me and nodded his head. "Let's go, girlie." He turned to move, but a couple of hosts blocked his way.

"U-um! Move please!" Ia called out. As fast as they could, the hosts moved out of the way and Len and I walked through towards the stairs. Turning, I looked back at the girl and motioned for her to come along.

"Ia, do you want to hold my hand?" She quickly shook her head. "Eh?"

"I...I don't know if I'm contagious... T-the others that burned in the fire s-said I was, but..." she explained.

"Oh them. So we did kill them after all," Len huffed. "Nice throw, girlie."

"You did?" Ia asked, amazed. "That fire was...was your doing?" We both nodded in response as we headed up the stairs. "Those people... they were holding me hostage and the zombies couldn't do anything so they... they used me to use them... I... I...t-thank you..." She still seemed wary at us, but we nodded, not paying too much attention. Soon, we arrived at our destination and started to go through the clothing. I kept watch on Ia as I handed her clothes to try on. I know she wouldn't be running from the hosts, but she most definitely would be running. Eventually, I found clothing that was great to run in and extremely comfortable. It was nice not wearing Gumi's clothes, mostly because all of her things were one size too big and that irritated me to no end.

"I've got to say, it's nice not having to shoot hosts when shopping," I joked. "Ah, just like the good ol' days." Ia giggled, fixing a baseball cap on her head. "Are you good?" Ia nodded and we made our way over to the boys- Ahem. I mean. "Men" section. Totally not the boys or anything. Totally. "Hey, Len, are you done yet?" He stepped out of the changing room and nodded, sporting a new long sleeve shirt and jeans. His mask changed as well, having a different pattern on it. Our walk back down was extremely uneventful, mostly Ia and I speaking about the most random of things and Len completely ignoring what we had to say until I spoke something that caught his attention, usually making Ia laugh. She was such a cute girl, I felt so sorry for someone so young in an apocalypse like this.

"Uh..." Once we stood at the elevator that connected the bottom floor to the floor above it, we watched as Gumi and Miku sat on top of the RV, throwing molotovs at intervals of time, killing off the hosts and leaving them to burn on the nice floors of the mall. "Hey guys, we're back!" The looked over and waved with smiles as they usually did. Well. As Miku usually did. I hadn't known Gumi too long either.

"Stay back," Gumi called. "There's way too many and I got the zom-be-gone right here!"

"There's no need, stop that," Len snapped, walking down as the flames extinguished due to there being nothing to withhold the fire. "Kid, tell the zombies to beat it or they'll have a taste of lead." Ia nodded quickly following him. She approached the hosts and they seemed to look at her for a second before she coaxed them to leave the RV as well as us alone. Looking around as I followed them, more and more hosts watched us from the upper floors as well as on the bottom floor. It made me wonder... Would I be able to talk to my sister again? Somehow?

* * *

"So all we gotta do is protect you and we're not gonna be food for the zombies?" Gumi asked, looking curiously at Ia who sat in a single chair. Miku was in the driver's seat and we were once again on the road to...well, where ever we could go. It was amazing how much gas this thing doesn't consume. The mileage was definitely something only bought with big bucks and stolen with exceptional skill. Call me stupid for being impressed by an RV, but this thing was pretty nice.

"I don't mind it," Miku called from the front. "Besides, look at her! She's so cute! And we can continue to isolate Len as the only boy in this place!" Miku laughed lightly as Len huffed on the couch beside me. "Just kidding." Ia blushed and looked down at her hands.

"Weeeeeell," Gumi hummed. "Alright, kiddo! You can definitely join us if that means those zombies don't kill us." She raised her hand to her chin. "But how to protect you from actual humans... That's definitely going to be a challenge, huh? It'll be fine, we are the Dream Team after all. So don't worry you cute little head about anything." Gumi headed back to her seat and reclined, relaxing.

"Ia? Are you hungry?" I asked, standing back up. "We've got-"

"Nothing. We've run out of food and supplies," Gumi sang.

"What?"

"Len eats a hell of a lot for someone who still hasn't gone through puberty!"

"Shut the fuck up."

"So, to the grocery store, right?" Miku spoke up. The grocery store. There would...probably be quite a number of survivors there... Probably, if there's even anything left to salvage. What would be the safest place to hide Ia? Maybe on the run as we grab things...? I looked over to her and she stared out the window, watching the scenery pass by. I didn't notice Len's hand grabbing my wrist and yanking me back down to the couch. He turned and whispered softly in my ear, almost to the point where I almost couldn't hear him.

"There's something she's not telling us."

* * *

**Dun dun duuuuunnnnnnnnnn.**

**-Rizun**


	6. Dream and Purge

**I don't really have much to say, so... How are you guys doing? Maybe I should put the little question of the chapter at the end of this like I used to.**

**Some disclaimer.**

* * *

"I'm telling you, there's something seriously wrong with that girl," Len whispered, crossing his arms as he sat on the pull out bed. We were both next to the driver's section of the car, honestly both the safest and the dangerous part of the RV itself, considering we were literally sleeping next to the exit of all places. That being said, Len, Ia, and I were intended to sleep up front. Honestly, sleeping in a place like this was a new experience for me. When it was just myself and Miku, we would always find somewhere very, very high to park the car and take shift sleeping. And by take shifts, I mean I would keep watch while Miku slept. I suppose that now, it was more of us watching for other survivors who were trying to hurt Ia. Still, Len hadn't taken off his mask even when we were preparing to go to bed.

"Len, give it a rest already," I sighed, shaking my head. "The kid's like eight years old! How old were you again? Fifteen or something?" He glared at me and I had a feeling he grit his teeth from behind his mask.

"I'm eighteen, girlie. What? You're going to make fun of me being a late bloomer or something?" he snapped. Fortunately, Ia was taking a shower and being cared for by Gumi and Miku. Well, mostly Miku since Gumi knocked out in the king sized bed in the back near the shower. If you were wondering why we stuck with these sleeping arrangements, it was simple. Miku and Gumi snore enough to alert the already awoken dead. None of us were going to deal with that, so we chose to sleep in the front. That being said, Miku helped set a boundary for the bed that, unfortunately, Len and I had to share. Ia took up the couch across from us. When I say boundary, I meant pillow. There was a single, long pillow between us.

"No, geez, sorry," I apologized. "You never told me how old you were, alright? If it makes you feel any better, I'm seventeen and I look like this." He seemed to scan my body and laughed to which I hit him with a pillow. He calmed and shook his head, with a silent agreement that we wouldn't speak any more of it. What use would it bring to us if we just tore at each other about it anyway? Nothing. Especially in this arrangement we had here. "But seriously, the poor girl's been used and hunted. At least give her the benefit of the doubt." He sighed and fell back down on his back on top of his pillow. I climbed onto my part of the bed and looked down at him. I tugged at my sleeves, noting that the both of us were in our sleeping outfits, still meant for us to jump up and go to action at any minute when we needed to.

"Fine, whatever," he sighed. "You know what, girlie? I'm starting to think you're just as annoying as the other two." I rolled my eyes as Ia walked to her couch and hopped on. Len closed his eyes and turned the lights down in the front part of the RV. He was closer to the driver's seat than I was, mostly because he was able to drive the RV as well, but Miku was our designated driver as it was. I turned to see Ia snuggle herself underneath her little blanket with a smile.

"Good night Ia," I called out. She looked at me with a sweet smile.

"Good night, big sis Rin," she replied, with a shy blush. I kind of just squealed at her cuteness inside. I really wished I could've shared the bed with her, but we all took her warning about not touching her, so we pretty much just made an environment where she could touch things, but had to wear these cute little gloves for the sake of the rest of us. "G-good night, big bro..." I looked over to Len who seemed to already be knocked out... Or at least pretending. His breathing wasn't all that deep as most people who slept had. I nodded to Ia and laid down on my side of the bed, pulling the blanket up to my neck as I usually did as I slept. I hated sleeping on my back, so I faced the kitchen as I tried to force myself to sleep.

* * *

_...? Eh? Where am I? _

_Looking around my surroundings, I found myself on top of what seemed to be a tall cliff with a railing overlooking the sunset that fell behind what seemed to be a city. The closer I looked, the more my heart started to pound. This was my home city. This was the city that I grew up and lived in my entire life. As the soft light filled the crevices of the city, I realized what I was actually looking at. It was my home city that had been completely destroyed by the hosts and their take over of the human race. My heart seemed to drop as I realized what I was seeing was reality. This was reality now. All of this._

_"Rin? Rin, why do you keep looking at the city like that?" I turned and my eyes landed on my older sister who was heading to the car. "You have a weird look on your face, y'know? You're such a weirdo. C'mon. Mom and Dad are waiting for your lazy butt." I glared at her and flipped her off, but hid it away as soon as I saw my mother's stern look. "Hehe." My sister stuck her tongue out at me from the inside of the car. _

_"Now you two, no causing any trouble," Dad scolded the both of us. "Rin, hurry up before your mother gets mad." _

_"But Dad, the city's ruined!" I complained, as if I were complaining that I didn't want to leave the pretty site. This was weird, now that I thought about it. I turned back to the city and pointed to it, but my thoughts stopped dead in their place as the city looked as lively and normal as ever. People walked through the streets, cars drove by, talking, laughter, pollution. All of it. It was all normal. "Huh...but... I..." I turned back to my family and they all looked at me as if I was going crazy. _

_"What are you talking about, Rin? It looks fine," Mom said, walking up to me. She touched my face, checking my temperature. Her hand felt warm against my skin. "Maybe you're just hallucinating. Come now, dear, we're wasting gas if you don't hurry." She walked back to the car and opened the door for me. I frowned. This was strange. What a weird dream. I might as well go with them at least it was..._

_**"What the FUCK do you think you're doing?!"** I jumped in surprise and looked around to see Len as well as Miku and Gumi running towards me from the sides of the cliff you could walk from. Miku stopped in front of me and held a gun up to my family who looked absolutely surprised...and angry. They backed away from us, leaving the car, but their teeth were gritted. _

_"It's a good thing we got here in time!" Gumi said, with a grin. She held a molotov in her hand and pointed it to my family. _

_"Guys! That's my_ family_! You can't hurt them," I snapped. Len gripped onto my shoulders and shook me, as if to convince me in the worse way as possible. _

_"Look at them, idiot! Your real family is dead, now fucking wake up! Wake up! **WAKE UP.**"_

* * *

I gasped, shooting up to a sitting position as Ia stumbled back away from me and fell on to her bottom. I was covered in what seemed to be sweat and sighed wiping my face with my sleeve. My hand shot to my chest and gripped onto my shirt as I wheezed and started to cough violently. My face felt hot and my chest continued to tighten with each cough. Nausea swirled in my stomach to the point were I felt like I was dying. Ia jumped up and ran over to my side, gripping my arm. Without a word, she urged me outside of the RV and I ran a few feet to the bushes and threw up. I just threw up without even realizing what was happening. I reached out, struggling to find something to hold onto as released the contents of my stomach onto the ground.

"Girlie!" I could hear Len's voice as I gripped onto a branch. When I finally stopped, I stumbled back onto the road and fell over. The cooled road and the night filled with groaning hosts lulled me to sleep.

* * *

**So. About that question. Uh.**

**Question: Who's your favorite character so far? **

**-Rizun**


	7. Wake Up

**Heya. This chapter was written in advanced. **

**Disclaimer this be. Owning I do not.**

* * *

"...shoot her."

"We're not going to shoot her unless she attacks us!" Ow. My throat hurts. "Besides, Ia would be able to control her if she tried attacking us, so there's no worry that we'll be next. Rin's our friend, Len, and friends mean you don't shoot each other in the forehead until they attack you with a blood thirsty rage." What. Since when did... Oh whatever. The main thing was that I was feeling a lot better. I didn't feel so nauseated and my chest didn't feel tight. There was a cool, wet towel- or at least, what I think is a wet towel- on my head. I didn't feel like I was dying and that, by itself was a good thing.

"C'mon, man, put that down!" Gumi laughed. "You're not gonna shoot Rinny. You don't have the balls to anyway. I know your type." Okay, this was starting to get a little annoying. I started to force my eyes to open when I realized that my mouth was taped and my hands and feet were tied behind my back. "Oh! Look, I think she's waking up!" Looking around the RV, I was back in bed and four pairs of eyes were gazing down at me, wondering what I was going to do next. "Y'know, taping her mouth wasn't the best idea, lemme me just..." Oh no.

_Rip._

"SON OF A-" I bit down on my lip, sighing when the faint faded away. "Did you have to rip it off like that?"

"Hey! See? What did I tell you? She's completely fine," Gumi said, with a nod. She placed her hand behind my back and helped me to sit up. "That sure was some episode you had there, Rinny. Lemme tell you, we all thought you were gonna be a host yourself. That would've broke poor Lenny's heart, y'know. After all, you're the only person here he probably considers a friend."

"While that's nice and inflates my ego," I said, with a nod. "Can you guys untie me? Also, water and something to eat would be good too."

"Hold still, okay, Rin?" Miku asked, walking to stand to where she could untie me. Eventually, I was freed from my rope prison and stood up to stretch. Miku immediately pulled me into a hug and held me tightly. "You had me worried sick, you know!... Okay, that's a wrong way to put it, but you were seriously turning into a zombie on us..." She pulled me away to look me in the eyes and almost immediately, I felt bad by what happened.

"B-Big Sis Rin...I-I... I'm so sorry..." she apologized, sniffling. Tears were falling from her face as she ran and hugged my legs. "It's my fault! It's my fault you got sick! I'm so sorry, I... I didn't mean to!" I patted her head softly and looked at the others, a bit confused to why the little host controller was touching me. Len moved over to Gumi's usual chair and sat down, looking out the front window as if he didn't want to be a part of the conversation. Miku and Gumi on the other hand, looked at each other till Miku ran to the kitchen, remembering that I requested water and food.

"Shit, I guess I gotta say it, huh?" Gumi said, scratching the back of her head. "Well, Rin, lessee... Basically, strawberry pop," she nodded to Ia who clung to my legs, "thought that trying to get some of her blood in your blood would help you become immune or something like that." Gumi cleared her throat as Miku returned, handing me some crackers and water. The first thing I did was drink that water due to the fact my throat was basically punching me. "So she literally opened up one of her bandages and-"

"OKAY, I GET IT- Ahem, I mean, I don't think I want to hear any more of that," I said, shaking my head at Gumi. "Seriously, that's kind of..." I looked down at Ia who had still been crying over her mistake. "Hey, don't cry. I'm not a host am I? So something must had gone right." I crouched down and gave her a hug. "C'mon, don't be sad. You really tried to help me, didn't you?" She nodded, trying to wipe her own tears away. "That's good. Just... next time, give me a warning, alright?"

"Anyway, now that we're done with this situation, let's get moving!" Gumi cheered, throwing her hands to the air. "And by that, I mean, where the fuck are we even going?" We all sat quietly for a bit and we had a silent agreement that we had absolutely no idea where we were heading now. There wasn't really anywhere we needed to go. I mean like, we could go and help other survivors, but I wasn't sure. Miku stood up and walked over to the driver's seat, sitting down. She started the RV and we began to drive. Gumi slugged over to her seat and spun around.

"You should take a shower, Rin," Miku called from the driver's seat. I stood up and put the trash away before I went to wash off the sweat and the remnants of my sickness.

* * *

**Short Chapter. I'm sorry :c**

**-Rizun**


	8. Bullets and Pity

**I might be a bit laz**

**Hur hur dur bla (Translation: Disclaimer)**

* * *

That incident was in the past as days of us traveling from city to city just continued. Good news was that the zombies weren't so much of a problem. The problem now was trying to find food and supplies that weren't being taken by other survivors. One of us had to stay with Ia to protect her in the RV since it was the safest place for her considering the amount of hosts that guarded us on the outside. At the moment, the RV was parked in the shadow of a super market as Miku, Gumi, and Len went inside to collect what they needed. Surprisingly, hosts were very useful when it came to filling up the RV with gasoline. Ia would have no problem instructing them on what to do from inside of the RV and that's how it had been.

"Hey Big Sis?" Ia spoke up. She held playing cards in her tiny hands as we played a round of Go Fish. "Why don't you or the others travel with your parents? Did they leave you guys too?" She placed her cards down as it slowly occurred to me what she was saying. This child had been left for dead in the hospital when she came down with such violent symptoms, wasn't she? Ia looked straight into my eyes with her big, blue ones that reflected my expression. "...Mama and Papa said that they were going to pray for me, but... They never came back to visit after the first day."

"Oh..." That was, well, sad. I sat there quietly for a bit, not exactly knowing what to say from the top of my head. I switched to talking about my own family without much thought as it was the only response I could think of and hope that it wouldn't make our soft conversations awkward. "My family...my sister is a host somewhere, I believe. But, my parents went off somewhere to a better place." Ia looked at me with a frown and shook her head.

"...I'm old enough, I think, to know people die, y'know?" she mumbled, placing her cards down. She pushed herself up and walked to the fridge to get some apple juice. "The people in the hospital didn't tell me, but they kept talking about it behind my back. They kept saying there really wasn't any hope for me to get better." She walked over and sat back down, forcing the straw through the tiny aluminum foil at the top of the juice pack. "But I did get better..." I was entranced as I listened to this girl's story. This little girl was strong. Being able to survive this long while being so young.

"Did you wake up in the hospital?" Ia shook her head.

"I woke up in someone's arms," she recalled. "It was a host. She was talking to me, telling me it would be alright. She said that I was going to live and that I needed to stay alive." I placed my cards down, nodding slowly as I reached for my water bottle and took a sip. "When I walked out of the hospital, everything seemed like a mess. There was a lot of fire everywhere and I was really scared."

"We're going to protect you too now, so there's no reason to be afraid with us!" Miku's voice chirped from the outside. I jumped up to my feet as I ran to the stairs of the RV. All three of them were hauling carts connected by ropes to the RV. "Mind helping us, Rin?" I nodded and Ia ran to my side as we started to transfer the finds into the storage as fast as we possibly could. At one point, we were tempted to get the hosts to help, but we decided against it considering that we were trying to not get sick. Which brought up a question: was I immune now with some of Ia's blood in my veins?

"Alright, last one," Gumi called, with a grin. Len hauled the stacks of water bottles into the RV as Miku and I transferred the rest. If Ia wasn't looking out the back window of the RV, we would have never been alerted to the survivors approaching us.

"Hey, do you guys have any more room in the RV?" one of them asked. There seemed to be three of them, but only one was talking to us. Miku glanced over at me and slightly moved her eyes, telling me to take Ia and go to the back where the sliding wardrobe was. I nodded, quietly lowering what I was holding down. I motioned to Ia and she slid from the couch to the floor, starting to crawl to me.

"No, there's no more room," Gumi said, a serious tone echoing in her cheerful, upbeat attitude. "Sorry but-"

"Oh no, we're the ones who are sorry," one of the survivors spoke, pulling out what seemed to be a Desert Eagle. Which, for people who don't know, is a powerful handgun that packs a punch. She aimed it to Gumi's head. "Everyone out of the RV! It's ours now!" Ia quietly gasped and looked at me in horror. I watched the scene pan out from one of the side windows. Gumi's cheerful expression looked horrifying.

"Ia, come here," I ordered. She quickly scrambled to my side as Miku slowly made her way to the stairs, Len going after her. "You need to make your friends attack those people or else we're going to not be safe and Miku, Gumi, Len, and I are going to be very much dead."

"I-I need the window to be open..." I nodded and tried tp carefully open the window.

"Didn't you hear me?! Everyone out of the RV now!" Fuck. Fuck. It was stuck. "Where's the blonde girl? Get her." C'mon. C'mon. There! It was open just a crack, but that was all that Ia needed.

"H-help me! Get the mean people! Help!" Ia screamed. Almost immediately, a loud roar was heard from behind our RV and hosts came at full speed towards the survivors.

"C'mon! Everyone get inside! Go!" Gumi yelled, knocking the gun out of one of the survivor's hands. "Hurry!" Miku ran for the driver's seat and Len jumped in, handing from one of the sides to make sure the gas tank was closed. When it wasn't, he jumped out as Gumi jumped with the Desert Eagle. "Miku, floor it!" I wrapped my arms around Ia as we were thrown to the back of the RV, stopped by the wall as a pain spread on my back.

"Wait! Len!" I called out. "He jumped out to check the gas!" Gumi gritted her teeth and opened one of the windows, seeing Len hanging on to the side of the RV with one hand. Ia quickly got up and tried to help me to my feet.

"Rin, get over here and help me or he's gonna fall the fuck out!" Gumi yelled. I nodded, ignoring the pain in my back. I looked up and opened one of the escape hatches and crawled carefully onto the roof. Bullets seemed to whiz by my head as I gripped onto the railing on top. Looking down, I saw Len struggling to hold on and blood trailing behind him. "I've got your feet, Rin!" I nodded, feeling her hands around my ankles as I maneuvered to the side and reached down, grabbing Len's shirt. A bullet bit into my arm and I hissed in pain.

"Don't fucking drop me!" Len screamed.

"I won't, just shut up!" Once I got I good hold of him, I moved my foot a bit. "Pull Gumi, pull!" I felt the pressure on my ankles as we were slowly dragged back into the RV, bleeding and hurt. Len groaned in pain, clutching his legs and his arm. I hissed in the same type of pain, holding my own arm. I've never had to experience this kind of pain and it made me grit my teeth to the point where a dentist would hate me. But, at least we got away...somewhat safely.

* * *

**I'm actually quite tired. **

**Question: What place do you think they should visit next?**

**-Rizun**


	9. The Heiress

**Hereeee we go.**

**I'm starting to run out of ways to say standard disclaimer.**

* * *

"Ow!"

"I told you sooo!" Gumi mused, ripping the bandage with her teeth. Len hissed as she finished bandaging his leg up. "How you holding up over there, Rinny? Lenny's almost done and I'll get to you as soon as I patch up his arm." At least, that's what I thought she said. While I was waiting for Gumi, I had been drinking what had been molotov fuel. Why? Because Gumi told me it would help to numb the pain. Meanwhile, as I laid completely drunk out of my mind on the couch, Ia sat on the floor next to me, holding my arm as Gumi instructed her to. "Rinny? Can you hear me over there?" I let out a drunk giggle.

"Yeah, yeah," I slurred, happily. "I'm sssuuuuper a-okay, 'ver here Gummy. Can't feel a daaaamn thing." The alcohol definitely did its job as I was distracted by my own hazy thoughts to even think about the bullet lodged in my arm. The bottle I held in my good hand was pretty much empty as I tossed it behind my head and onto the floor. "Wwwhoops!" Eventually, I started to black out, but not before I heard Gumi and Ia, with Len arguing something. "Y'all need taaa shut yer traaapsss..."

* * *

_**Miku Hatsune**_

"I'm guessing Rin's finally drunken herself to sleep?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the road. My fingers tapped on the steering wheel before I started to flip a few switches next to the driver's seat. Ever since we picked up Ia, the RV has been cleaner than before where I had to usually ram through countless of the dehumanized bodies. Now, it was more of the occasional host that ran out on the street instead of staying aside due to the little kid's presence.

"Yeah, she's knocked out big time," I heard Gumi reply. "She only wasted through one bottle. That's pretty impressive- Len just do it!"

"No!"

"Rin's fine! Just fucking do it!"

"I don't care! You get that shit away from me!- FUCK! OW!"

"Hey, you two, what's going on back there?" I asked, starting to frown. Keeping up this cheerful attitude around these people is pretty difficult, but then again, they are funny at times. Besides, Rin seems to be enough sadness for all of us put together. "Gumi, you shouldn't make him do something he doesn't want to do!" Those two argued a bit as I maneuvered the RV onto a bridge and parked at the side of the road. Standing up, I stretched and headed to the back.

"Goddamn it, Gumi!" Len hisses, rubbing his bandaged arm.

"Hey, hey, you're _welcome,_" she corrected. I placed my hands on my hips and glared down at the both of them with an unimpressed look on my face. "Oh hey princess, why'd you stop driving?"

"How am I suppose to drive with you guys yelling at each other like that?" I asked, shaking my head. "Gumi, go and help Rin before her body gets used to being penetrated by a bullet." Gumi gave out an immature snicker, but stood up and quickly joined Ia as they went to help Rin with her arm. "As for you, Len, how do you feel? Do they still hurt?"

"What the fuck do you think?" he snapped back. "Listen, Princess, just because they're wrapped up and you can't see the blood doesn't mean they don't hurt like hell." He leaned back on the couch and sighed as he seemed extremely irritable. This entire 'princess' nickname was extremely irritating to me, but I didn't bother to say anything about it. I am an _heiress _thank you very much. Although, being in this situation probably meant the only thing I was going to inherit was not being dead like the rest of my family in their "host proof" haven. If it was so "host proof", I wouldn't have been barricaded at a corner store.

"Look, Len, I'm just trying to make sure you're alright," I replied. Hopefully, he could hear how done I was with him and Gumi arguing all the time. "I don't need all of your assholeness in my face when I'm trying to make sure you're not dead. A simple 'oh, it hurts, but it'll be fine because I can still talk' would be fine." Len still looked irritated, which in turn, just made the entire RV somewhat on edge.

"Just get to driving, princess," Len ordered, with a frown. I sighed, shaking my head as I headed back to the driver's seat. I moved the chair and turned it around to look at all of the people in the RV. Gumi sighed in relief, fall back onto her bottom with an exaggerated sigh of relief. Ia moved to the kitchen to get something to eat as a good job well done.

"Rinny's all patched up and ready to go when she wakes up!" Gumi chirped, with a smile. She jumped up and brushed herself off before skipping to the back. "Len, Ia, you two are in charge of locking up and guarding the place! Goodnight!" It was so nice to have someone else who was pretty cheerful around here too, but... Sometimes Gumi's cheerfulness isn't exactly the right kind of cheerfulness I would look for. Either way, I followed her to the back.

"Are you going into the shower first?" I asked, pointing to the bathroom.

"Nah, Miku, you can go first," she replied, shaking her head. "...I never did apologize for stealing this RV, huh?" I laughed lightly and shook my head.

"Hey, it's one of fifty or something."

* * *

**Sorry I'm late.**

**-Rizun/Kii**


End file.
